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goods of Caladan: pundi rice, medicinals from processed kelp, handmade
tapestries, and preserved fish products. Privately owned lighters were still
loading merchandise into the hold, ferrying up from the surface to the
Heighliner. This huge Guild ship had gone from world to world on its roundabout
route to Kaitain, and the province-sized cargo bay was dotted with ships from
other worlds in the Imperium, all on their way to the coronation.
While they waited, Thufir Hawat looked at the chronometer mounted on a bulkhead
of the frigate. "We still have three hours before the Heighliner completes
loading and unloading and is ready to depart. I suggest we use this time for
training, m'Lord."
"You always suggest that, Thufir," Rhombur said.
"Because you are young and require considerable instruction," the Mentat
countered.
Leto's plush frigate was so full of amenities that he and his entourage could
forget they were even off-planet. But he'd had enough of relaxing, and the
anxiety of impending events filled him with a nervous energy that he wanted to
discharge. "You have a suggestion, Thufir? What can we do out here?"
The Master of Assassins' eyes lit up. "In space, there are many things a Duke -
- and a Prince --" he said with a nod to Rhombur," can learn."
A WINGLESS COMBAT pod the size of an ornithopter dropped out of the hold of the
Atreides frigate and descended away from the Heighliner, into space. Leto
worked the controls with Rhombur sitting in the copilot's seat to his right. It
reminded Leto for a moment of their brief training attempt in the Ixian orship,
a near disaster.
Hawat stood behind them wearing a mobile crash restraint. In his harness he
looked like a pillar of wisdom, frowning down at the two young men as they felt
their way through the combat pod's controls for the first time. An emergency
override panel floated in front of Hawat.
"This craft is different from a coracle at sea, young sirs," Hawat said.
"Unlike the larger ships, we're in zero gravity here, with all the flexibility
and constraints that implies. You have both done the simulations, but now you
are about to discover what real space combat is all about."
"I get to fire the weapons first," Rhombur said, repeating their prior
arrangement.
"And I'm piloting," Leto added, "but we switch in half an hour."
Behind him, Hawat spoke in a monotone: "It's not likely, m'Lord Duke, that you
will find yourself in a situation that requires space combat, but --"
"Yes, yes, I should always be prepared," Leto said. "If I've learned anything
from you, Thufir, it's that."
"First you must learn maneuvering." Hawat guided Leto through a series of
cruising curves and sharp arcs. He stayed sufficiently far from the enormous
Heighliner, but close enough that he felt it constituted a genuine obstacle at
this speed. Once, Leto reacted too quickly and plunged the combat pod into an
uncontrolled spin, which he pulled out of by firing reaction jets to stop them
without sending the craft spiraling in the opposite direction.
"Reaction and counter-reaction," Hawat said, with approval. His now-tilted
mobile crash restraint righted itself. "When you and Rhombur had your boating
accident on Caladan, you were able to run aground on a reef to stop things from
getting worse. Here, though, there is no safety net to catch you. If you spin
out of control, you will continue to do so until the proper countermeasures are
taken. You could fall and burn up in the atmosphere, or in deeper space you
might hurtle into the void."
"Uh, let's not do any of that today," Rhombur said. He looked over at his
friend. "I'd like to try some practice shots now, Leto, if you can keep this
thing flying straight for a few minutes."
"No problem," Leto said.
Bending to the weaponeer station between the boys, Hawat said, "I loaded skeet-
drones into the hold. Rhombur, try to fire and nullify as many of them as you
can. You have free range to use whatever weaponry you wish. Lasbeams,
conventional explosives, or multiphase projectiles. But first, m'Lord" -- Hawat
squeezed Leto's shoulder -- "please take us around to the other side of the
planet where we won't have to worry about hitting the Heighliner when Rhombur's
shots go wild."
With a chuckle, Leto did as he was instructed, cruising high above the clouds of
Caladan to the nightside, where the planet lay black below them except for
necklaces of city lights strung along the distant coasts. Behind them, the
glare of Caladan's sun formed a halo against the dark eclipse of the planet.
Hawat launched a dozen spinning, glittering globes that flew off on random
paths. Rhombur grabbed the weapons control -- a stilo bar with multicolored
panels -- and blasted shots in all directions, most of which missed entirely,
although he did remove one drone with a spray of multiphase projectiles. They
all knew the bull's-eye was a mere accident, and Rhombur took no pride in it.
"Patience and control, Prince," Hawat said. "You must use each shot as if it
were your last. Make it count. Once you've learned to hit things, then you can
be more liberal with your expenditures."
Leto chased after the drones as Rhombur fired with the full array of weapons
available to him. When Rhombur had finally succeeded in eliminating all the
targets, he and Leto switched positions and went through more practice
maneuvers.
Two hours passed swiftly, and finally the Mentat instructed them to return to
the Guild Heighliner so they could make themselves comfortable before the
navigator folded space and guided the ship to Kaitain.
SETTLED IN, LOUNGING on his plush hawk-crested chair, Leto stared out the window
into the crowded cluster of ships inside the Heighliner bay. He sipped a mug of
mulled wine that reminded him of Kailea and the stormy night when they had
rummaged through the Old Duke's Possessions. He longed for peaceful interludes
and warm companionship, though he knew it would be a long time before his life
became settled again.
"The ships are so close together here," he said. "It makes me uneasy." He
watched two Tleilaxu transports take positions near the Atreides frigate.
Beyond the transports a Harkonnen frigate hung in its Guild-assigned place.
"Nothing to worry about, my Duke," Hawat said. "By the rules of warfare
dictated by the Great Convention, no one can fire a weapon inside a Heighliner.
Any house breaking that rule faces permanent forfeiture of its access to Guild
ships. No one would risk that."
"Are our shields up anyway?" Leto asked.
"Vermillion hells, no shields, Leto!" Rhombur said, with alarm in his voice. He
laughed. "You should have learned more about Heighliners on Ix -- or were you
looking at my sister the whole time?"
Leto flushed crimson, but Rhombur explained quickly. "Aboard a Heighliner,
shields interfere with the ship's Holtzman propulsion system, preventing it from
folding space. An active shield disrupts a Navigator's ability to hold his
navigation trance. We'd be dead in space."
"It is also forbidden under our Guild transport contract," Hawat said, as if the
legal reason might somehow carry more weight.
"So we're all here unprotected, naked, and trusting," Leto grumbled, still
seeing the Harkonnen ship through the plaz ports.
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